49 pages • 1-hour read
I Am Not Jessica Chen
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Chapters 9-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
Classes are cancelled for the day and Jenna’s school buses all the students down to the lakes for the annual swimming carnival. While Jenna is not a proficient swimmer, Jessica was one of the school’s star swimmers and is expected to swim the first race, which is also the longest and hardest. Although Jenna worries about this, she discovers that muscle memory takes over and she can complete the race and even win it with ease.
Aaron comes by to congratulate “Jessica” on her win, but also to ask about Jenna. He is concerned that she has disappeared and that they have not heard from her. When Jenna suggests that perhaps she doesn’t want to be found, Aaron grows worried that she may be upset with him. Unable to hold it in any longer, Jenna tells him the truth—that she is the person in “Jessica’s” body. However, an angry Aaron believes “Jessica” is pulling his leg and leaves, telling her not to joke about Jenna.
Jenna is furious with herself and reflects on how much of a sway Aaron still has over her. She remembers how her crush on him grew over the years, eventually culminating in an incident one day in the rain, almost a year prior. They had been riding their bikes back home from school together, and stopped to take shelter under some trees. In a charged moment between them, Jenna pulled Aaron close and almost kissed him; however, he backed away and whispered that they shouldn’t do this. Humiliated at the rejection, Jenna cycled away, asserting that she hated Aaron for toying with her emotions. A week later, he left for Paris.
Chapter 10 Summary
As the weeks pass, Jenna settles into Jessica’s life. Celine invites her out one day to go horse riding. As Jenna, Celine, and Leela ride together, they discuss some of their classmates and the pressure everyone is under to do well.
Curious to hear their opinion on her, Jenna asks about herself. Celine asserts that she always believed Jenna to be extremely hardworking, but in an attempt to make up for a lack of natural talent; she doesn’t believe that Jenna will get very far with hard work alone. At Celine’s words, Jenna remembers all the moments from her childhood in which she felt she was on the outside looking in, unwanted or uninvited by the others because she just “wasn’t enough.”
Suddenly, Celine remarks that she can see Aaron riding as well. In surprise, Jenna accidentally jerks on the reins too hard and her horse throws her off. Celine and Leela gather around her in a panic, wondering what to do. As they debate calling an ambulance, Aaron rides toward them and expertly checks Jenna over. He bandages her injured arm, and Jenna tells him he will make a great doctor someday. Aaron freezes, feeling a sense of déjà vu at her words, but doesn’t say anything more.
Chapter 11 Summary
Aaron advises Jenna not to ride any further with her injured arm, so she decides to walk back home. Aaron promises her friends that he will walk with Jenna and ensure she is safe.
As they walk, they discuss how beautiful the landscape looks. Jenna confesses to how she has always dreamed of living in a place like this. As she describes what her dream life would look like, including painting the stars at night, Aaron realizes that she was telling the truth earlier about who she is. He admits that he has been thinking about what she said for days, and, looking back at all the moments and conversations from the past few days, he was growing increasingly convinced anyway that she was telling the truth.
Aaron and Jenna wonder where the real Jessica Chen is and how they can get to her. Neither has had any luck with finding an explanation, either in science or in legends and myths. Aaron also wonders why Jenna would have ever wished to swap places with her cousin in the first place. Jenna once again reflects on the numerous moments from her life where she has felt just not good enough, while her cousin shone in comparison. She tells Aaron that she “do[esn’t] want a quiet life, [she] want[s] a brilliant one” (187).
Aaron drops Jenna off at Jessica’s, and her aunt is exceptionally grateful for Aaron’s care. She praises Aaron’s work and comments on how she has always thought of him as a “son-in-law,” unsubtly trying to push them together. However, Aaron impassively claims that he was just acting as a friend would toward “Jessica.”
Chapter 12 Summary
Jenna begins to read Jessica’s journal entries regularly. The earlier entries are giddy with excitement at all the things she has been achieving, but eventually this tapers out into indifference, and even exhaustion. On one occasion, Jessica asserts that she hates her school because of the pressure she feels to perform; on another, she recalls people praising her for pushing through a high fever and completing an exam, obtaining the highest score. In the latter scenario, Jessica reflects on how people turn pain into a story to give it a purpose.
Meanwhile, Jenna receives another note in her bag claiming that if Jessica doesn’t confess to what she did, the note-writer will tell everyone the truth in three days’ time.
Jenna goes on a weekend hiking trip with Jessica’s parents, her parents, and Aaron. Jenna is dismayed to discover that her father doesn’t remember she is the one who gifted him the hat he is wearing. Aaron notices this, and Jenna wonders how he seems to remember everything about her even as she fades from everyone else’s memory.
When they are out of earshot of the adults, Jenna tells Aaron about the notes she has been receiving as “Jessica.” Aaron suggests they compare handwriting samples to figure out who it is. He has a birthday card that Jenna had gotten everyone in their class to sign, which they can use. Jenna is delighted at the solution; she feels a mixture of gratitude and irritation toward Aaron for the effect he still has on her.
Jenna injures herself again while on the hike, this time by a branch twisting into her leg. Aaron administers to the wound again, and a moment passes between them. However, it is interrupted by Jenna’s aunt calling out to “Jessica.”
Chapter 13 Summary
After the hike, Jessica’s mother again pushes Aaron and “Jessica” together, urging them to spend time at home while she and Jessica’s father step out. Aaron asks what Jenna will do once she figures out who the note-sender is, warning her against confronting them alone. Jenna asks if Aaron’s concern is for her or because she is in Jessica’s body, spurring a confession from Aaron that he has feelings for Jenna. He reveals that he left for Paris because he couldn’t bear how much he wanted her. He pulled away from her that day in the rain because he was scared he would disappoint her, especially because he knows Jenna thinks he is perfect.
Aaron points out Jenna’s tendency to obsess over something, but when she finally gets it she tends to feel only dissatisfaction, and so moves on to something else. He was worried that if he kissed her, she would get bored of him soon enough and he would end up heartbroken. Fleeing to Paris didn’t help, as he missed her constantly while there—hence, his early return. However, he wants to give things a real try between them and urges Jenna to be safe so they can find a way to break this “curse.” Dazed, Jenna asks for time to process all this, promising to talk about it more later.
Once Aaron is home, he sends Jenna a picture of the birthday card, as promised. Jenna is shocked when she figures out who the note-writer is.
Chapter 14 Summary
After class the next day, Jenna waits in an empty classroom for Aaron to lead the note-writer there. Cathy Liu arrives and Jenna reveals she knows Cathy is the one who wrote the notes. An angry Cathy asserts that she just wants “Jessica” to confess to having stolen her thesis after Cathy showed Jessica her entire essay outline.
Jenna is stunned, not having imagined that her cousin could have ever plagiarized someone else’s work. Cathy reveals that even before she could say anything, the teacher assumed that Cathy was the one at fault as soon as he read both of their essays. A furious Cathy asserts how unfair it is that despite Jessica being the one who cheated, she is headed off to Harvard anyway; Cathy confesses that she was only waitlisted.
Jenna is shocked to see the amount of pressure Cathy feels to perform, especially as the younger girl confesses to how inadequate she feels in front of “Jessica.” Jenna tries to console her, assuring her that she has felt this way herself, too; she also promises to make things right, but needs some time, as a lot of bizarre things have been happening. Cathy grants her a week.
As Jenna and Aaron walk away, discussing what happened, they are approached by a teacher who informs “Jessica” that the school’s director is attending the art exhibition the following evening. He has asked to personally meet Jessica, having heard all about her achievements. Jenna expresses her gratitude for the honor, and as guests are allowed to attend, Aaron promises to be there too.
Chapters 9-14 Analysis
As the story progresses, Jenna gains an unexpected ally who is determined to help her solve both the mystery of the swap, and that of the anonymous note-sender: Aaron Cai. With Aaron by her side, Jenna is able to get to the bottom of the mystery, with the confrontation with Cathy Liu ending up being a revelation in more ways than one.
When Jenna learns that Jessica plagiarized Cathy’s thesis idea, The Relationship Between Appearance and Identity once again comes to the fore. While Jessica is persistently praised as a star student—and she indeed is one—she nevertheless commits a grave academic offense because she is so anxious to keep up appearances, even at the expense of her integrity. Cathy’s anger and hurt show that Jessica’s unyielding perfectionism can negatively impact other people, not just herself, revealing yet another flawed part of her seemingly perfect reality. Furthermore, the teacher’s automatic assumption that it was Cathy, and not Jessica, who was guilty of plagiarism speaks to the dangers of placing too much trust in appearances: Instead of investigating further and giving Cathy an adequate chance to defend herself, the teacher simply jumped to erroneous conclusions.
This section also initiates important developments in the dynamics between Aaron and Jenna. There has already been some foreshadowing that Aaron and Jenna’s relationship is significant and unique, especially since Aaron was the only person who both remembered Jenna clearly and was concerned about her disappearance. Aaron’s heightened awareness is finally explained: Aaron deeply reciprocates the feelings that Jenna has for him. The strong bond between the two also signifies how Aaron not only sees Jenna for who she is, but also values her for it. This is further confirmation that Jenna’s sense of self and her perception of events and relationships is flawed, largely because she views herself far more negatively than is warranted.
These chapters also offer some context as to why Jenna views herself this way, once more invoking Navigating Comparison and Expectation. In conversation with Celina as “Jessica,” Jenna learns that the other girl views her as hardworking, but lacking in natural talent. This triggers a spiral of memories in which Jenna remembers constantly being excluded from social groups. While the reader is not privy to whether this is an accurate read on Jenna’s part, she nevertheless firmly believes that her lack of talent in comparison to others is what led to her lack of inclusion. Thus, she believes that she must be a different person altogether if she is to belong.
Jenna’s feelings of dissatisfaction also link to another key part of her characterization: Aaron points out Jenna’s tendency to obsess over something, only to be disappointed once she gets it and go immediately chasing after something else. Her constant desire to do or be more thus renders it impossible for her to truly enjoy anything that she does have or any achievement she does accomplish. As the confrontation with Cathy reveals, this is an equally significant pressure in Jessica’s life. Her journal entries reveal that she hates school because of the pressure she feels to perform. Simultaneously, her inability to detach from this pressure and the weight of expectations drive her to do unhealthy things, like push through an illness to write an exam. The novel therefore suggests that Jenna and Jessica have more in common than Jenna initially thought, and that it is Jenna’s own negativity and dissatisfaction—not, as she believes, simply a lack of natural talent—that are holding her back from the life she could have.
Jenna’s conversation with Celine also illuminates The Impact of Success on Personal Relationships. Irrespective of how accurate or exaggerated Jenna’s self-perception is, success does impact the relationships in her life to a significant degree. Both Celine’s view of Jenna as untalented, as well as the intimidation Jenna feels around people like Celine, prevent her from forming relationships with people like Celine. Both of these hurdles disappear once Jenna is in Jessica’s body, suggesting that Celine places a high premium on cultivating friendships with people she regards as successful and talented above personal qualities.
On the other hand, Aaron experiences the negative impacts of his own success in his relationship with Jenna. In his confession, Aaron reveals that he was scared to pursue anything with Jenna because she always viewed him as perfect—he was too scared to shatter this perception and risk disappointing Jenna. Liang thus once again outlines both the potential positive and negative impacts of an individual’s success in personal relationships, showing how success can sometimes attract people while making genuine connections harder to create and maintain.
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